Pain relief practices of parents before presenting to pediatric emergency services

Pain, which is a condition that is experienced very frequently by children and leads to negative consequences, is one of the most prevalent reasons for presentation to emergency services.

This study was conducted to determine the pain relief practices implemented by parents for their children before presenting to pediatric emergency services.

This descriptive study included the parents of 425 children who were brought to the pediatric emergency service of a state hospital in Turkey. The data were collected using a form that was developed by the researchers, and the collected data were analyzed using frequency, percentage, mean, standard deviation, and chi-squared tests.

The mean age of the children brought to the emergency service was 8.16±4.03, while 50.8% were female. It was determined that 60.7% of the children presented to the emergency service with abdominal pain, 69.9% were subjected to a pain relief intervention before presenting to the emergency service, 81% were given drugs as an intervention, and alternative methods were used by the parents of 64.4%. Statistically significant relationships were found between the working statuses of mothers and fathers and their implementation of any intervention to pain and between the type of pain and the status of the parents giving drugs to their children (p < 0.05).

The rates of parents who gave drugs to their children to relieve pain or applied non-pharmaceutical alternative methods were high. For the effective control and management of pain at pediatric emergency services, it may be recommended to inform parents about this issue and include them in the process.